Multi-carrier modulation (MCM) is used in many communication systems due to its advantages regarding flexibility, multi-user support and link adaptation.
Typical multi-carrier modulation schemes include orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation and filter-bank multi-carrier (FBMC) modulation. Filter-bank multi-carrier modulation is a promising candidate for next generation mobile communication networks since, in comparison with other multi-carrier modulation schemes, it has advantages such as low out-of-band radiation, and no need for a cyclic prefix (CP).
One of the major challenges for multi-carrier transmission is the energy consumption of communication devices, which affects the battery life time of the communication devices. Among a number of factors, the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the multi-carrier communication signals has a major impact on the energy consumption, since it is directly related to the power efficiency of power amplifiers (PA) within the communication devices.
In Kollar, Zs., Varga, L., Czimer, K., “Clipping-Based Iterative PAPR-Reduction Techniques for FBMC”, 17th International OFDM Workshop 2012 (InOWo'12), 29-30 Aug. 2012, an iterative clipping base approach is described to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio of filter-bank multi-carrier communication signals. However, the iterative clipping based approach causes high processing complexity and processing delay and/or strong nonlinear distortions and spectrum regrowth, i.e. an increased out-of-band emission, of the multi-carrier communication signals.
In Ihalainen, T. et al., “Filter bank based multi-mode multiple access scheme for wireless uplink”, EUSIPCO 2009, filter-bank spread and discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread based approaches are described to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio of filter-bank multi-carrier communication signals. Besides having a high processing complexity, these approaches achieve a minor reduction of the peak-to-average power ratio. Moreover, the approaches result in an increased processing delay and longer tails of the multi-carrier communication signals.
In Yuen, C. H., Amini, P., Farhang-Boroujeny, B., “Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) for filter bank multicarrier communication systems”, Fifth International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks and Communications 2010 (CROWNCOM 2010), a single-carrier filter-bank multi-carrier (SC-FBMC) modulation is described. In this approach, the overall communication signal can be formed by a pure single carrier communication signal having a reduced peak-to-average power ratio using one filter for the entire transmission bandwidth. However, this causes a reduced flexibility of communications within communication networks.
When managing communications of a plurality of communication devices within a communication network, it is desirable to consider the energy efficiency for the plurality of communication devices during communications over the communication network.